Sand and Soul
by TurtleHeart
Summary: After a day on land to bring back desired provisions, the crew of the Flying Dutchman drag a little sand back with them. A secret is revealed about Will's duty to the ship upon discovering what happends when he sets foot on the sand. R&R!


**Sand and Soul**

There was nothing on the horizon as usual. Nothing but the sea. Behind him was a port in the distance where the crew was assembling the usual needs. Of course he wasn't the sole being on deck.

Bill Turner was asleep in the corner, his ankles crossed, hands folded in his lap, and hat over his eyes. That was not at all unusual. He was consistently caught asleep on deck when the crew was absent. His quiet snoring became louder.

Will looked at his father with an odd smile. He loved his father almost more than anything in the world. He loved his Wills to death though. After all, he was still alive so using that expression was plausible.

He looked to the horizon again. His little Wills, as he had come to call him, was ten years old now, a year older than he had been last time they were together. _A year._ Will sighed. How short a year seemed to him.

Along with his heart and emotions, he lost his sense of time as well. Immortals didn't need time he supposed, since they were immortal. What did time mean to him other than his number of years as captain of the _Flying Dutchman_? It wasn't a terrible life really, better than being entirely and utterly dead. He was immortal and captain of the greatest ship on the waters, but the price wasn't truly worth it.

He missed the feeling of land between his toes and the freedom he once had. It was like being lost in Port Royal, he was trapped there with nowhere else to live because there was nothing else for him in the world.

That was long ago however. Now he had less of a freedom than he had then. Technically, he was rightfully supposed to be in World's End, as he had no purpose here. Still having human traits, he found he and the crew desired a few human necessities such as food, drink, clothes, blankets, pillows, books, packs of cards, rum- plenty of rum all around - soaps, which was pretty much all basic human necessities. He shrugged. They were still human after all. He, being the least human of the crew, needed it unbearably.

His father's snoring even louder Will rolled his eyes. He took a mug halfway filled with rum. Creeping to his father, he removed the hat to expose his face then tipped the mug, allowing rum to drip on Bill's face.

Bill opened his eyes with a start. He rubbed his face then looked up at Will.

"Can a sailor not get his sleep?"

"Not if he's snoring as loud as Calypso's storms," replied Will.

"For the hundredth time William, I do not snore," said Bill as he rested his head back. After a moment, he tilted the hat over his face again.

"Aye, you do," muttered Will, walking to the helm of his ship.

He watched as a few specks on the horizon increased in shape. A trait he acquired with captain was enhanced eyesight. It was the crew returning from land with needed supplies.

"It's about time!" he hollered in the distance.

"We were distracted!"

"There were wenches for sale! We had to drag Skully away from them!"

"Why doesn't that surprise me," Will muttered to himself.

Upon having unloaded everything, Will took a bottle of rum to himself. The rest of the crew were responsible for tightening down the acquired desires and organizing them. Bill, first mate, was in command of overseeing that the provisions were to be properly stored and all that was needed had arrived.

In the organ chamber, Will sat at the organ. He brought out several folders from the shelf beside it. He reviewed the contents inside until finding one that satisfied. This piece he knew quite well and was used as a warm up on the organ. Impressively, a crewmate from Jones's time was a professional music player before winding up a part of the crew and taught Will to read notes and play.

Will was rather fond of sheet music, requesting another piece from port to port. He was honored enough to have received music from every nationality. After eleven years on the organ, he could play anything within a few days.

Through with his warm up, he took out the most difficult piece given to him yet. He was glad to have difficultly learning this one. Everything else was too simple.

"All right Will, we're done and should return," said Bill just as Will had his hands on the keys.

Will let out a heavy sigh then nodded. He pointed to the notes. "I'll come back to you later."

"Who knew my son was going to be a musician trapped on a pirate ship," noted Bill.

"This isn't a pirate's ship. It's a ship, nothing more," said Will.

Will was needed on deck to merely switch worlds. Overseeing that the crew took to his usual past time- Liar's dice, reading, napping, drinking, talking, resting, relaxing, keeping order, touching up –he returned to his music chamber. Within a moment, music flowed from the pipes, carrying far across the vast sea of World's End.

----

Captain Turner gazed across the empty horizon and the lowering sun. He sighed. Not a single soul for three days. Either the world was too afraid to be at sea or he was doing too well of his assigned duty. Unfortunately, and fortunately, he believed it to be that he was doing too well. It was what he had to do so he did it. He, unlike any of the crew, saw what happened when Jones allowed the world to fill. Everything was lost and waiting for the one day to be freed from the waters.

"Never say we die," he sang softly to himself.

"We can't die anymore than we already are son," said Bill, coming behind him. "You especially."

Will looked at him nodding. He tugged the left of his mouth up and raised his eyebrows. "I know. Feeling nothing pulsing inside serves as my reminder."

"Still can't accept that can you?" wondered Bill.

"How can I when I know the rest of the crew does have their hearts beating inside them?" asked Will.

Bill gave a nod. "All right, you have a point there."

"Do you miss Wills?" asked Will.

"Oh, do I ever. He looks like Elizabeth and his mind comes from you," said Bill.

"Do you miss Jack?" asked Will.

Bill hesitated for a moment then nodded. "He may have been annoying and confusing to understand, but I miss the poor thing."

"Poor thing?" asked Will, the tone in his voice confused. "He has immortality with his organs still inside of him and limitless options to use it."

"Well, he has to put up with it forever. That's the agreement to the Fountain of Youth. Once the water is drank, immortality is forever or until her Highness allows peace," said Bill. "There's always a counter."

"Not for this curse," muttered Will.

"You're alive," whispered Bill.

Will shrugged his shoulders. He was alive and spared from a horrible death but he never did feel alive much. Actually, he never felt much anymore anyway. That tended to happen without his heart, his source of feeling and emotion.

"Will you stop making me feel depressed?" requested Eddy, looking behind him during a game of cards. "It's bad enough that I'm losing. Overhearing your conversation makes me feel terrible."

"Me too," said Skully.

"You're still upset over the wenches?" asked Inido.

Skully nodded. "They were beautiful wenches. I wanted all of them."

"Did they want you?" asked Eddy.

"They're wenches," said Skully. "They'll take anyone."

"Not if he isn't experienced," muttered Eddy.

Hearing that, Will and Bill laughed.

Eddy threw his cards on the table, giving up. He slid his back against the mast, sinking to deck to watch the sunset. The sun slowly disappeared in their world, rising in the one they once knew. Longing for life and the world they knew long ago. He brushed the grains of sand beside his leg to scoop it into his palm. He sifted the small amount through his fingers.

His breath suddenly choked and was lost. _Sand?!_ He looked at his palm to confirm it. His face went pale as his eyes gazed around deck. The deck was dusted with sand, some piles larger than others. His body shook as he stood. He walked around the deck not breathing and trembling. The crew looked at him. He suddenly stopped in front of Will. He pointed at Will's feet with a tremulous finger.

"Eddy, are you all right?" wondered Will, setting his hand on Eddy's shoulder.

Eddy stared at Will's feet. "Sand," he croaked.

"What sand?" asked Will. "There is no sand on the decks."

Eddy pointed to Will's feet. "Sand," he repeated, his voice squeaking.

Will moved his foot back and forth on deck. His head tilted to the side as he felt something move that was not the smooth wood. He glanced down then shot his head back up with terrified eyes. His body shook and face lost all color. He looked as though he was going to be sick or cry- the crew couldn't decipher which it was going to be.

"William," said Bill quietly.

"Sand," Will told his father, pointing to his feet. His voice was terrified.

Bill lowered his eyes down his son's trembling body to his feet. Around his son's feet was a light dusting of sand and dirt. He shrieked with ear splitting terror.

Will stood in that one place, petrified. He thought he had been petrified before until now when he realized he couldn't move anything. His knuckles were white from gripping the rail as hard as he was. He was stepping on land. The one day was a year ago. He was forbidden from land but once every ten years. Why was he still alive?

Suddenly, his trembling ended. He looked at the wooden deck. Sand was kicked and dusted into every corner and crease. Clearly it had been here a while. Three days. It was here for three days. That was the last shore leave for the crew. They brought land back from the beach. He stepped foot on land for three days and was still breathing.

He released the breath that he had been holding for the past few minutes. Hesitantly, he took a step in front of him in the pile of sand then lifted his foot. Nothing. He did a small dance in a circle. Nothing. He walked a few cautious paces around deck. Nothing.

"I don't understand. What is going on?" Skully asked.

Will pulled his boot and stocking from his right leg, allowing nothing to cover the flesh on his foot.

"No, don't do it!" screamed Bill.

Eddy turned his head away.

Will squeezed his eyes shut as he lowered his foot. A moment later, he peeked. Everyone was still staring at him and Bill hiding his face in his hands. Confused and curious beyond anything in the dead world, Will pulled his other boot and stocking from his left foot.

He let out a breath as both bare feet stood on a sand- land –dusted deck. Nothing was happening to him. He didn't know what was supposed to happen. Wondering if anything was going to happen, he did a little dance around deck barefoot.

"I don't understand this. What is going on?" he song-said.

"What is supposed to happen?" asked Eddy.

"Can I look?" asked Bill.

"I don't know what's happening. Why am I not dead yet?" Will asked in a singing tone as he hopped in one of the larger piles of sand.

"Sand is land correct?" Inido asked Eddy.

"Aye," replied Theo.

"Why has nothing happened to Will then?" asked Harris.

Will was now on his knees, crawling to collect the sand in one general area. He hopped into the small pile, moved his feet, and waited. Nothing.

"Calypso!" he called, frightened and confused.

"Yes," came a voice from behind Will.

Will pointed to his feet and the smooshed pile of sand. "What is happening? Why has nothing happened to me?"

Calypso looked at his feet. Her face went sour as shoulders shrugged. "Because not'ing be going to happen."

"But he's stepping on land!" cried Bill, his voice squeaky as well.

Calypso shook her head. She got to her knees. Observing the dust on deck, she played with it, inspected it in her finger, tasted it, noted it crunched as sand did, brushed it from Will's foot, curious to see what she saw was true. It was true. Will was indeed stepping on land.

"Tell me what's going on?" said Will, his voice pleading.

"Dere be not'ing ta tell. You be stepping on land," said Calypso.

"But I can't. The only day I could was a year ago," said Will.

"Pirates be superstitious creatures. Tell dem somet'ing and dey be afraid of id. Tell dem da trut' and da importance be no more," said Calypso.

"Are you telling me that the captain not setting foot on land for ten years was something you made up?" asked Will.

Calypso shrugged innocently. "How else I ged Davy Jones ta do da duty I assigned him?"

Will moved closer to her causing her to fall back. "I can step on land whenever I want and nothing will happen to me?"

"Yes."

"I could have been on land after my day becoming captain?"

"Yes."

"I could have joined my crew on every shore leave?"

"Yes."

"It was made up just so the captain would be forced to do his duty because he thought he had nowhere else to go?"

"Yes."

"Were you going to tell me?"

"No."

Will stood over her as she backed into the mast, hunched down.

She looked at him with a forced smile, an attempted bargain for an apology.

"Is it necessary for me not to have a heart or did you make that up too?"

Calypso raised a finger. "Dat be wot made da captain captain. Him be da one wit'out a 'eart because him heart be da sea."

Will threw his hands in the air with a great cry of frustration. He turned to face her. "So, if I wanted right now at this very moment to return to the other world, I could walk up to my wife and son without anything happening."

"Yes," Calypso replied, her voice quiet and shamed.

"All this time I thought I was going to die if I stepped on land," shouted Will.

"Bud you did da duty dat be charged ta ya because of dat t'ought," noted Calypso.

Realization dawned on Will's face as he rubbed his foot into the sand. "You knew if I knew that I could step on land whenever I wanted I would be with my family more than what I was to do. I would do the thing I wanted more than what I had to do. The duty is too serious not to waste time on land. The captain needs to be here to ferry souls not be in the other world with his family or doing whatever. If I didn't become accustomed to this duty and it become part of my life early in my captaincy, I would discard it and do what I believed to be more important."

"Now ya under'tand why dat be told ta da captain. Him place here more dan dere," said Calypso.

"And with Jones, he was superstitious so he believed you. The telling transformed into a huge priority and became part of the legend itself," said Will. "He didn't know that he could step on land did he?"

"Him crew never track land back on da ship as you did," said Calypso. "Dis be a mistake."

"Why?" asked Will.

Calypso shot him a glare that caused him to back into the rail. Her black eyes pierced his chest and sent fear throughout his body.

"Now dat you know, you spend dime wit' ya family rat'er dan here doing wot ya charged wit. Ya know da trut' and take advantage of it more an' more each dime."

"Not necessarily," said Will. "I have met them at sea several times for the day and returned here to collect souls or wait."

Calypso raised her eyebrows. "Yes, bud, you still t'ink ya confined ta da sea. Now, ya know ya can sleep wit' you wife ad night and play wit' ya son during da day or be going inta town. Dis duty be second nadure in dime."

"You don't know that," said Will.

"Yes I do," Calypso told him.

"What have I been doing for the past eleven years?" asked Will. "I've been doing what you asked of me. It's my habit. I haven't ferried a soul in three days and I know something is wrong because of that. I feel withdrawal- I think I feel it at least." Something sparked in his mind. "Remember when Wills was eight. Elizabeth and Jack brought him to sea because he had pneumonia. I stayed with him for a week. After I knew he was going to be fine, I returned here to collect and ferry souls. I returned to him for a day to check his condition. I knew he was better. What did I do after that?"

"Redurn here and waid for ya ten years," noted Calypso, finally standing away from Will.

She looked at him seeing something about him she had never seen about a man before. Will's character was morale and truthful. He was not one to lie. He carried out tasks that were assigned to him with great ease. He was a true nobleman in piracy. For years he was here ferrying and with his family in their times of pain. The time between favored World's End.

"Look ad me Willyum. Led me see ya eyes," she said. Will looked at her. "Closah." Will moved down. She pushed his head close to hers. Their noses touched.

Will looked into her eyes. A strange feeling came over him. He felt his heart again and saw himself when he was three years old. Suddenly, in fast images, he saw every detail of his life played before his mind. Mum dying. Running away from England. Elizabeth. The fever. Becoming blacksmith. Rejection to attend her birthday. Jack coming. Freeing Jack. His ruined wedding. Tea with Beckett. Lost to the world. Marrying her. Dying. Turning from her. That first night. Ferrying his first soul. Hearing of Wills. Being with his son when he was dying. His one day. A hand on his face broke the connection.

He shut his eyes and turned away from her. Gripping the rail, he needed balance from his dizzy and confused mind.

"Ya soul be rare Willyum. Ya soul be true ta da dat which be given ta ya. Ya soul be pard of da sea. Ya soul be here doo," said Calypso. Will looked at her oddly.

Calypso took his hand.

A white flash blinded him. He was gazing where they had never seen before. The stars were in constant motion, the colors changing, and sizes increasing and decreasing. The sky streaked with color. The sea flat, like glass.

"Dis be da 'eart of Worl''s End."

"I don't see anything," said Will.

"Look hardah," said calypso.

Will looked around.

"Id not be dere," said Calypso.

"I'm right here."

Will turned around then gasped and backed himself from the mast. He was once again petrified.

A figure was walking on the calm sea. His arms hung at his side. He stood in front of Will.

Will swallowed hard.

Will's soul stood there looking at him patiently, waiting for him to speak. "Don't worry. I'm you."

"It's not that. It's just that I'm talking to my soul," said Will.

His soul nodded the same way he would have. "True. Not many can say they've had a conversation with their soul."

"So, what do you do here?" asked Will.

"Guide us through the world. When we think, I'm responsible for that. When we dream that's me. When we want to kill Jack for placing this upon us that is definitely me."

Will smiled for a moment.

"Will, relax. I'm already out of us."

"I've been told all my life that a person can't live without their soul."

"On our day on land, how do we feel?"

"Odd, full of feeling, glad to be on land."

"And?"

"Lost, unsure, dead, soulless." Will understood suddenly. "I always come back here because I can't be there without you for long periods of time. Jones became a monster because he truly was soulless. Nothing was guiding him. You're trapped here and so I feel comfortable here, because you're here,"

The soul nodded. "Aye, that is why we will come back to do what we're supposed to."

"Come back?" asked Will.

"We can go to land whenever we want, but not for long periods of time. Feeling soulless is the worst imaginable pain. When our heart was cut from our body I was brought here where I met your father's soul. All crewmembers' souls are here. It's what drives them and us to ferry souls and do what we agreed to."

Will looked at Calypso. "Can they ever be freed?"

"When ya body leave da ship dey follow. Souls be what ya see on da dock in da oder world."

"We ferry souls because that's what's left. We still have our bodies because we need them in the other world as well as this one. Our souls come here because all souls that died at sea come here. They guide us here through our thoughts," said the soul of Will.

"This is a world between every age, time, past, present, future, life, death, and eternity," Will's soul told him.

"But what drives us in the other world?" asked Will.

"Their hearts know what to do, even ours Will. It calls to us from the chest."

"Why did you bring me here?" asked Will looking at Calypso.

"Because I trust ya ta know dat ya need ta be here for a reason nod jsu' wit' ya family, Now dat ya know dat ya be stepping on land whenevah, you know da reasons for da mystery of da _Dutchman_," said Calypso.

"I can go to land whenever I want?" asked Will.

Calypso nodded.

"I want to go now," Will told her.

"Den go," she replied. "But wait a moment. Dere be oders dat wish ta see ya in person."

"Well, I for one."

Will halfway smiled at his father's soul.

The others figures gathered around him. He recognized their faces to match the faces of his crew.

"Go back Will. We need to see you awake," Bill's soul told him.

Will smiled then turned to his soul. "Turn around." His soul did so. "That's what I look like from behind."

Will's soul laughed as it walked backwards into the darkness.

"Will. Will, say something. Will, please. Wake up. I'm here Will. Wake up. Daddy's here. Will, please wake up. Say something. Will."

Will opened his eyes, gazing into his father's.

Bill pulled his son from his cot to his arms.

Will set his arms around his father.

"What happened?" asked Bill, letting go. "There was flash then you were gone. It was past an hour when Calypso set you back on deck. I don't know what happened. You looked dead. You were freezing."

"No, I was talking with my soul. Can you believe it? I was having a conversation with my soul," said Will.

Bill touched his face. "Will, you're delirious without a fever."

"No, father, our souls are here too. They keep us doing what we agreed to."

"And?"

"It means my soul won't let me stay on land for very long."

"Calypso's allowing you on land?"

"She knows my soul will call me back here and it's pure."

Bill attempted to process this a moment then shook his head. He pulled Will against him again. "I'm just glad you're awake."

Will smiled. He glanced out his window then turned back. _You said you were trapped in there_. His soul looked at him with the unmistakable Turner smile and shrugged. _I lied_, came a voice in his mind.

----

Immediately following the flash, Will stood on the dock staring at the house above the cliffs. He walked forward, his hands in his coat pockets.

"Daddy!" Wills screeched, running down the beach.

Will ran forward, beating his son to the end of the dock. He knelt- in the sand -to hold his son.

"Hello Wills."

"Daddy, you're home. Why are you home?" asked Wills.

"Do you want me to go?" asked Will.

Wills squeezed his legs together. "No!"

"Will," came a frightened whisper.

Elizabeth stared at his feet then at him. She looked at his feet again.

Will stood to take her face in his palms. "It was something told to me to keep me doing what I had to. I can be on land whenever I want."

Wills screeched and wrapped his arms around his father's legs.

"Truthfully?" asked Elizabeth.

"Every word is truth," promised Will.

Elizabeth smacked her lips against his.

Not expecting that, Will was a bit shocked then melted into her kiss.

Somehow, among all this joy and happiness, there was part of him missing that would wait as patiently as possible for him to return and enjoy the day, as there would be many more to come.


End file.
